


do you ever stop and think about me?

by onelastride



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/F, childhood friends to lovers i guess, diverts from canon, this is truly just me writing whatever came to mind, tw: brief mention of suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28897923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onelastride/pseuds/onelastride
Summary: jennifer jareau and emily prentiss met when they were young, but life never seemed to work out in their favor until one day a certain brunette shows up at the same workplace as the blonde
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 8
Kudos: 96





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> tw: brief mention of suicide
> 
> first chapter has a lot of time skips just to set up a history between the two, the second chapter will bring us to present day and’ll go a lot smoother. diverts from canon along the way, but nonetheless, i hope you enjoy. it's my first time writing these two but it was enjoyable.
> 
> inspired by dorothea by taylor swift

_it’s never too late to come back to my side  
the stars in your eyes shined brighter in tupelo  
and if you’re ever tired of being known for who you know  
you know, you’ll always know me_

Their friendship was, unexpected, to say the least. Jennifer Jareau and Emily Prentiss had nothing in common when you looked at it on paper. Jennifer Jareau lived in a small town near Pittsburgh, was quiet, respectful of authority. Emily Prentiss was the daughter of an ambassador, travelled more of the country than JJ could ever dream of, and while she respected authority, she oftentimes rebelled. Neither of them ever went to the same schools, considering the Emily was always off and JJ was rooted in her small town.

They met completely by accident when JJ was five and Emily was seven. JJ was on a trip to the local zoo with her after school care program and Emily’s caretaker had decided to bring her to the zoo that day as well. And when JJ had gotten herself cornered by a goat in the petting zoo it was Emily who stepped up to shoo the animal away. The pair then spent the next few minutes chasing the goat around the paddock, Emily saying that it needed payback for cornering the young JJ, before an employee chastised them and told them to be gentle with the animals. JJ flushed with embarrassment and wouldn’t meet the employees gaze while Emily was the one to defend her friend. They then left the petting zoo, Emily promising that she would get JJ a phone number so they could have a playdate soon. After much pestering on Emily’s part to get her caretaker to give JJ her parent’s contact info, she finally had a little note in her hands that she could give to the blonde. Emily’s caretaker watched with some apprehension; it wasn’t every day you just handed out the Ambassador’s personal cell number. Emily gave the note to JJ, and the young girl beamed widely, “I’ll give this to my mother as soon as she picks me up.” And then the blonde was off, being beckoned away by an employee from her daycare. Emily’s caretaker grabbed her hand and they carried on, Emily spoke excitedly, “Adelaide, I made a _friend_ ” “Yes you did, Em.” There was some sadness behind the smile that Adelaide gave the young brunette, because she knew that it wouldn’t be long before the family would be moving once again and Emily would have to say goodbye. 

They had playdates here and there for a few months, at one point JJ’s family even got invited over for dinner, which was a rare occurrence in the Prentiss household. Shortly after Emily’s eighth birthday, the Prentiss family picked up and moved to France for her mother’s career. Before leaving, Emily gifted JJ with a goat stuffed animal and promised that she would call her whenever she could, their young minds not fully able to comprehend the time difference and distance that would be put between the two of them for the next few years. However, Emily did hold her end of the bargain up. She would sneak down to where the phone was set in the study, a piece of paper with JJ’s family phone number poorly scrawled on it, and she would dial the number. She usually called around midnight her time, that way it’d be about six when she rang up JJ on the east coast. This carried on for about a year until her parents caught her one night and the phone and began to lecture her on the costs of international calls and how important sleep is for a young child. During that lecture, Emily could faintly hear JJ giggling on the other line telling her that she’s going to tease her for that moment for forever. 

When Emily turned thirteen her parents moved to Italy, and her calls to JJ became less and less frequent. Maybe part of her just felt that it was because she was a teenager know and she knew her new friends would tease her for still being friends with an eleven-year-old. And maybe part of her was scared of the fact that she may never see the blonde again in person, and with everything being so difficult already, what was the point of trying to keep up with a long-distance friendship? Her new friends weren’t like JJ, they didn’t care to hear about the things that Emily wanted to talk about, they didn’t care to go spend time in a park or down at the beach. JJ would have _loved_ to visit the beach with Emily, and JJ would listen to things that Emily wanted to talk about. She also began to wonder what JJ’s interests were now, did she still like living in that small town? How was her older sister doing? These were all things that Emily was no longer aware of, all because she had just stopped calling. 

One night she got permission to phone the blonde, and that was exactly what she went to go do. She grabbed the phone and brought it into her room, plugging it back into the wall and dialing the number that she had now memorized by heart. It rang a few times before a soft voice picked up the line, “Jareau household.” Emily paused a moment, thrown off that it wasn’t JJ who had picked up the phone, but she had to remember it’s been months since she’d called. “Hey, it’s Emily. Emily Prentiss. I’m friends with JJ, is she home?” “One second.” There was some muffled talking before a familiar voice greeted her, “Emily?” A sigh of relief washed over Emily and she relaxed, “Yeah, it’s me. I’m sorry for not calling as often anymore.” JJ’s voice was gentle, “It’s okay.”

“So, how have you been? How is everyone?” There was a long pause on the other line, and even all those miles apart the air between them felt thick. A pause that seemed to last minutes was only a few short seconds before JJ spoke again, this time her voice wavering, “My sister killed herself a few weeks ago.” 

///

JJ was not one to open up about many things, and especially things regarding her sister. It was all too fresh, too painful for her to bring up, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie to Emily. Even though parts of her held resentment for the fact that she felt abandoned by Emily, she still had to be honest. After she told Emily that her sister had passed she wanted to throw the phone across the room and scream into her pillow. A completely irrational reaction, but one that she felt was warranted given her current situation. 

“Jayje, I’m so sorry. I had no idea,” there was a pause, “How are you doing?”

“I’m good. Tired. I’m gonna go though, I need to have dinner.” She hung up before Emily could get another word out. She felt guilty using the excuse of dinner, considering they had just finished eating over an hour ago, but she just wanted an excuse to get off the phone. When she turned she saw her mother busying herself with some paperwork, “How’s Emily doing?” “Good, I guess,” she was being short and she knew it. Emily chose the worst time to call her, but how could Emily have known it was a bad time to call the Jareau household? “That was a quick phone call,” her mother set down the paperwork and folded her hands, “What ever happened to her anyways?” JJ shrugged, “Who cares. She’s in Italy now, probably has newer and better friends.” She was lashing out, redirecting her anger of her sister and projecting it onto Emily. Of course, the eleven-year-old wouldn’t be old enough to process that at the time. But looking back on it, that is exactly what had happened.

She’d gone to her room shortly after that, taking a picture she had of her and her sister and shoving it into one of her drawers in her closet. Maybe if she didn’t have a constant reminder of her sister this would all go away, and maybe she would get better. But when she slammed her drawer shut a box above her dresser got wobbly from the force and landed on the ground next to her. JJ groaned and picked up the box, but the bottom became loose and all the items with in it fell out onto the ground. Tossing the cardboard box, she immediately recognized everything in this box, it was the goat that Emily had given her when she moved away and there were also pictures of the two of them when they were younger. 

Time passed slowly as she sat down and sifted through the pictures, and once her mom gave a quick knock on the door telling her it was time for her to sleep, she neatly placed them on her nightstand and grabbed the goat. Once she had finished getting ready for bed she got under the covers and held the goat tightly against her, holding on to one of her last physical memories she had of the brunette she’d met all those years ago.

Years would pass before she ever got to see Emily again, but now they both had their own personal cells at their disposal and could message each other whenever they pleased. This made things a bit easier for them, not waiting for the right chance to call anymore. They would still call each other, JJ using the excuse that it was easier to convey emotion that way than doing it over test, when in reality she oftentimes found herself missing the brunette’s voice. It’d matured over the years and it had a bit of a rasp to it. She also loved it when Emily spoke in other languages to her, and she tried her hardest to learn some things too. The blonde would find herself in the library after school studying a French textbook just in order to learn a new phrase to impress Emily. And that’s when it hit her, all it once, Jennifer Jareau realized she had feelings for Emily Prentiss. She boxed that realization up, deciding to table it for another day. How could she possibly even have feelings for a person she hadn’t seen since she was six years old? 

One day her phone rang in the middle of the day, she hopped off her bed and gently closed her door before bring the phone to her ear, “Hello?” “JJ, hey,” she immediately recognized the voice, “are you busy right now?” Her brows furrowed slightly in worry and she pursed her lips together, “Not at all, is something wrong?” Through the phone she could hear a quiet sigh and what she presumed was Emily shifting around on her bed, “Not exactly. I’m just tired of travelling and constantly moving. I’m tired of only being equated to my mother’s career, no one here cares about what my aspirations are, they only know me because of my mother.” “And what are your aspirations?” There was a laugh on the other line, “Who fucking knows. I’ll figure it out one day.” They then settled into their typical conversation, JJ informing her that there was a prospect that she’d be getting an athletic scholarship. And Emily filled her on how starting university was going and the plethora of events she had to attend just to appease her parents.

A year later, JJ was telling Emily about how excited she was to be starting college in the fall. And that’s when Emily told her that she was transferring university’s because her parents were finally moving back to the states, but what Emily failed to mention was that the real reason she was transferring to another university was because she just wanted to see JJ in person again.

**jj: wait, so i want to make sure i’m getting this right. you? back in the states? we have got to meet up!**

**emily: That’s the plan, isn’t it? I’ll be in D.C. next week, let be buy you a train ticket and you can come stay with me.**

JJ’s fingers danced across her keyboard for a moment and she subconsciously worried her lip. Her heart ached to see Emily again, but she knew it would be tough to get permission from her mother to go down to D.C. alone. She was just about to type out her text when another message came up.

**emily: And who knows, maybe you’ll fall in love with D.C. and stay with me permanently**

**jj: let me talk to my mother, d.c. is SUCH a dream though em**

D.C. came and went, and so did their lives. The two of them could never remain in steady and constant contact with one another, someone was always busy will their studies, at some sporting event, or trying to find an internship that would hopefully land them a job one day. That was okay with the young blonde, growing apart from people was a stage in life that she had become all too familiar with. However, part of her was pained with the knowledge that she had grown apart from one of her favorite persons. Nevertheless, she continued on in life, graduating undergrad and deciding on pursuing graduate studies which she justified by saying she wished to specialize her skills when in reality the thought of leaving academia terrified her.

She landed herself a job with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI and the first person she called to break the news to was none other than her brunette best friend. She’d hoped that possibly Emily was still in D.C., doing who knows what, but when she reached out to her she quickly learned that the brunette was working with Interpol and apparently had become far too busy to answer her phone. JJ never told Emily about her job she’d landed, she decided to keep it all to herself.

And she had been successful at that, up until the moment a familiar face was standing right there in the bullpen of the BAU. JJ could have imagined it up herself, but after squinting her eyes from her office just to try and focus on who it was, her suspicions were confirmed. Emily Prentiss was standing in the bullpen making small talk with Hotch and Morgan. Could Interpol possibly need their help with a profile? It seemed odd, but not necessarily unlikely. Deciding it would be best to just confront the other woman herself, JJ slammed her pen down on her desk and walked out of her office, giving a tight-lipped smile to her colleagues before she grabbed Emily by the wrist and practically dragged her out of the bullpen. Morgan furrowed his brows before yelling after the blonde, “JJ, you be nice to the new hire!” JJ rolled her eyes and gently shoved the brunette into her office before closing the door behind her. She could hear distinct confusing in Hotch’s voice when he spoke about the stunt she had just pulled, but none of that was relevant to her at the moment. She just had one burning question for the brunette.

“What the hell are you doing here?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n: things i didn’t intend on doing: getting this chapter up in a day. other things i didn’t intend on doing: adding on more chapters. since the first chapter was well received (thank you all so much) i’ve decided to go ahead and add on a few more chapters (aka i’m dragging everything on). as always, i hope you enjoy and apologies that this chapter is a little sorter than the last.

_but are you still the same soul  
i met under the bleachers? ___

One moment Emily was standing in the bullpen by her new desk, making small talk with her newest colleagues trying to acquaint herself with them. Then the next she hears a door slam, a blonde making a beeline for her, and a hand gripped tightly around her wrist. As she stumbles in tow of the blonde, she hears Morgan yell something but couldn’t quite catch it. She felt herself get pushed into the new office and when she turned around on her heel she was greeted by one simple question. 

She paused, trying to gather her thoughts, and then it hit her all at once. This was Jennifer Jareau, _her_ Jennifer Jareau. JJ breathed heavily out her nose and spoke again, “Answer me, Emily Prentiss.” Emily crossed over to the blonde’s desk, sitting down on it but not before grabbing a mint from the bowl the blonde had placed so carefully on the edge. She popped the mint into her mouth, rolling it over her tongue before speaking, “Oh! I see we’re using full names this is fun, okay, well if you care to know _Jennifer Jareau_ , I’m here for work.” She could tell she hit a nerve because JJ’s nostrils flared just slightly and her jaw tightened, “Interpol sent you?” 

Emily looked down and start to toy with the watch on her wrist, “Ah, no. I quit at Interpol.” “You what?” She brought her gaze back up, “I quit.” And before she could continue with that statement there was a knock at the door and then Hotch opened the door, “JJ,” he then looked to the brunette, “Agent Prentiss. Briefing room in five.” The door was then shut and Emily was the first one to speak, “Let me take you out to dinner tonight and I can explain everything.” JJ didn’t meet her gaze, she instead was fixated on the bullpen, but her jaw went slack and her breathing had calmed down so at least Emily knew she was starting to relax. “Dinner would be nice, but you owe me a whole lot of dinners, Prentiss, if you want to get into my good graces after all the years. But, it’s a Friday so how about we go to a bar instead?” Emily tucked the mint in the corner of her mouth and stood up from the blonde’s desk, “Works for me.” 

When the pair walked over to the briefing room, Emily couldn’t help but notice the odd glances she received from the other agents. Presumably, due to their own curiosity as to who she was, but for Morgan his look came from a place of confusion as he tried to piece together why the media liaison needed to speak with the brunette so urgently upon her arrival. She took a seat between Morgan and Hotch, who broke the spoke first, “We don’t have much time for introductions since there is a pile of paperwork waiting for everyone in that bullpen, but this is Agent Emily Prentiss, she came from Interpol and is here to join us at the BAU.” Immediately the hand of a younger male shot up and she raised her eyebrow in his direction, Hotch sighed and then nodded at the man, “Yes, Dr. Reid? Is it important?” 

Now she had another name, Reid. _What is his first name?_ “I’m Spencer,” _there it was_ “Prentiss, right? Your mother is an ambassador?” Emily nodded her head slightly, “that she is. Caused for a lot of world travels from a young age.” That remark earned her a snort and an eyeroll from the blonde beside her. 

The day was uneventful for Emily to say the least, she spent much of it acquainting herself with everyone that she would be working with. She met Penelope Garcia soon enough, and she made a mental note to take Advil before speaking with the bubbly blonde in the future. Because, for as nice as she was, her energy was enough to give Emily a headache she never wanted to experience. The brunette had gotten caught up at her desk reading over some case files that Morgan had asked her to do a once over on to the point where she missed the presence of another person standing next to her. 

A clearing of the throat caught her attention and she put the file down to look and see JJ standing there, “so are you going to take me to the bar or not, Prentiss?” The brunette let her eyes look around the bullpen, Reid was too busy talking Morgan’s ear off about chess for the either of them to have heard JJ’s question. “I am, I just need to finish looking over this file for Morgan,” she picked up the folder she had put down and promptly opened it, looking up slightly to see JJ had tightened her jaw again, “you tighten your jaw when you’re upset. Relax JJ, I’m not going to slack off on my first day.” She looked at the time on her watch, she was only a few minutes past when she could have clocked out. JJ wheeled a chair over to Emily’s desk and made herself busy, not caring to comment on the observation Emily had made earlier. 

What felt like hours later, the brunette had finally finished looking over the file and she got up to give it back to Morgan. As he took the file from her he hesitated a moment, “what’s between you and JJ? She dragged you out of this bullpen and she sure looked pissed earlier.” Emily looked over at the blonde who was idling on her phone before looking back down at Morgan, “we’re childhood friends.” 

“You would think she would have been excited to see you then.” 

“It’s, uh, it’s complicated,” she laughed lightly to ease her own nerves and then went back over to her desk. JJ’s brow was furrowed as she read what Emily assumed was to be a text. Gently, Emily walked around the blonde and began to put her items into her purse, occasionally looking up to see the blonde watching her curiously. When blue eyes met brown JJ was usually the first one to break contact, nervously letting out a cough and busying herself on her phone again. Emily would just go back to closing out things on her computer, unable to shake the feeling of someone looking directly at her, “your thoughts are very loud, JJ.” “Sorry,” the younger woman murmured, “can we go to the bar now?” 

When they made it to a bar, which JJ had to pick out because Emily was still unfamiliar with the area, they made their way over towards a booth in the corner. A lot had changed during all those years that Emily spent away from D.C., things she once knew like the back of her hand were now unfamiliar to her. _Jennifer Jareau is also unfamiliar,_ she felt the need to remind herself. “Give me your card, I’ll get us some shots,” JJ held out her hand for Emily to put her card into and Emily shook her head as she dug in her purse for her wallet, “you’re still as demanding as always, that much hasn’t changed at least,” she gave her card to JJ. Emily watched as she got up and made her way to the bartender, she couldn’t help but notice just how much older the other woman had gotten since she last saw her. _No shit she looks older, she’s in her late twenties now._ She was pulled out of her thoughts by the appearance of three shots in front of her, “Jennifer, did you put six shots on my card?” JJ grinned, “three each, top shelf too. Tequila.” Emily groaned, making a mental note to never let JJ take her card from her ever again. JJ held up her shot, “to rekindling friendships.” “Rekindling friendships,” Emily repeated, gently tapping the glass on the table before throwing it back and reaching for a lime. 

Three shots were enough to do JJ in for the night, and it was just enough to make Emily feel warm all over and for the edges to feel fuzzy. The blonde twirled an empty shot glass around the table, “why’d you stop gallivanting across the world with Interpol?” 

“I wanted to settle down.” _I missed you._

“Emily Prentiss? Settling down? I think hell just froze over,” JJ winked at her before continuing, “what were you doing all those years we stopped talking?” 

The guilt was almost enough to sober up the other woman as she looked at the blonde, “Working, that’s really it. I’m sorry, I should have called you more.” She could hear a sniffle come from JJ, “I thought you’d forgotten about me.” “Are you _crying? _” “No.”__

“Don’t lie to me,” Emily pursed her lips together, “and don’t you start crying on me yet Jareau c’mon you can’t possibly be drunk enough for that already.” 

"I’m _not_.” “Crying? Or drunk enough?” “Both.” 

Emily had switched places in the booth to sit next to the blonde, pulling her in for a hug, “I could never forget about you JJ. Hell, how am I supposed to forget the girl I stared down a goat for in a petting zoo all those years ago?” She leaned back slightly too look at teary eyes, a small smile played her lips as JJ laughed back on the memory, “that goat was scary, Em.” “I’m not saying it wasn’t,” she pressed the blonde’s head close to her again, gently resting her chin on her head humming softly. 

A comfortable silence fell over the pair, the sounds of other patrons engrossed in their own conversations filling the void. Emily could feel the other woman relaxing slightly in her arms, but she still seemed to be apprehensive, “you’re thinking again, what is on your mind.” “All those years, you spent all those years with your new friends in different countries. You’re so well-travelled, you know multiple languages, I really did think you forgot about me. But here you are, in D.C., getting a drink with me while I cry over the past.”

Emily sighed and took the blondes face into her own hands, “I’m going to tell you something, okay? And I really need that pretty little mind of yours to truly hear it, okay?” 

Unsure blue eyes looked back at her, but JJ nodded her head slightly. 

“Jennifer Jareau, you are absolutely unforgettable." 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n: i’m still figuring out where i want this story to go, so consequently i’ll probably end up writing more than four chapters. as always, thank you for reading and i hope you enjoy

_”Jennifer Jareau, you are absolutely unforgettable.”_

The words rang through the blonde’s head on repeat as she tried to process quite literally everything that had occurred within the last thirty minutes. Her senses were in overdrive due to the placement of the other woman’s hands on her face, and her brain was shorting at the phrase that Emily just told her. The alcohol consumption also hadn’t helped her case, but it did make her feel confident in herself. The phrase almost started to repeat itself like a mantra, maybe she was trying to convince herself that she was unforgettable. Or maybe she was just trying to read into the phrase and take it as an omission of feelings. 

Someone clearing their throat brought JJ back to reality, she absentmindedly worried at her lip, “do you really believe that?” “I know that. Given all those years we spent apart, I never once forgot about you.” Cerulean blues searched deep umber eyes, she kept looking back and forth between the two of them trying to see if they gave away any hint of Emily lying. Not that she thought Emily was lying to her, but more so that JJ didn’t trust herself to believe what was being said. 

“Do you want to go walk around the Washington Monument?” Emily proposed.

“It’s a big white stick, Em.”

“And?”

“It’s late and we’re both women, sounds like a combination for disaster, you of all people should know,” she gently nudged the brunette with her shoulder.

“We’re federal agents,” she raised an eyebrow.

“We’re drunk.”

Emily pointed her finger at the blonde, “You’re drunk, Jayje. I’m good to go. I’ll protect you, come on.” Before the blonde could even think up another excuse she found herself taking Emily’s hand to be led out of the bar. The Washington Monument was not a far trek for the pair, but a drunk JJ made it more difficult than it should have been. She found herself hanging on to the brunette for dear life at some moments, complaining that her legs no longer worked. Emily would snort and just let the blonde hang off of her until JJ realized that it wasn’t going to work and she would have to walk herself. When they got to the monument a few people were on the lawn, snapping pictures in awe of its stature in the night sky. 

JJ sat down on the grass and flopped onto her back, “See, Em? Big white stick. Can we go?”

Emily faked a small pout and sat down next to JJ, “I thought you’d want to spend more time with me, drunk you in boring.” JJ’s eyes immediately went wide, “I do, just, at a monument, really?” The brunette laughed, and JJ couldn’t help but notice how all the worry in her face slipped away when she laughed. She seemed to be at peace in this moment, and JJ mentally took a picture to hold on to this for forever. Emily idly picked at blades of grass before speaking again, “when I was in undergrad, my roommate and I would come out and sit on this lawn when things got stressful. It was freeing at the time; it gave me the ability to actually be present and not worrying about what the future had in store for me. I always worried about what my mother would say about my life choices. I also felt at times I would lose sight of who I even was,” she paused and glanced to JJ before continuing, “that’s why I kept in contact with you when I could. You reminded me of my past, childhood more than anything, and I don’t know if I ever thanked you for that.”

At this point JJ had shifted her body so she could sit up, her brow had furrowed in confusion as Emily thanked her, “What for? It’s just what friends do.” “I know, but I abandoned you all those years when I was off with Interpol.” JJ softened at the remark, “you had no other choice, Em.” The fell into a comfortable silence again, the blonde moving so she could rest her head on the brunette’s shoulder. She let out a sigh of contentment as she stared ahead at the monument that stood before them. She could hear the faint heartbeat of the other woman as they sat together, it was rare moments of peace that they could experience. JJ knew that working as a profiler at the BAU wasn’t going to be an easy task, and today just might be the last peaceful evening they could have together in a while.

“How was your first day? Enjoying the team so far?”

Emily shifted slightly, taking a blonde lock in her fingers and braiding it and unbraiding it in thought, “I think it went as well as I could expect. Reid’s nice, and Morgan loves Vonnegut so I have that going for me, Garcia is all sunshine and rainbows which I don’t know how that woman does it, and of course, you are just you.” 

“I think you’ll give Reid a run for his money.”

The brunette laughed and JJ moved so she could sit up straight again, tugging at her sleeve so she could look at her watch and check the time. It was shy of 1:30, and JJ knew she wanted to get into the office around 6 so she could have some time to read the files that come across her desk, “I think we should head back.”

“Let me drive you home.”

“I don’t mind taking a taxi, Em.”

“Jayje, this isn’t up for discussion,” Emily rose to her feet and once again held out her hand for the blonde to take. She willingly accepted it, and the pair began their walk back towards the bar. Subconsciously, JJ moved her hand to intertwine her pinky with the brunette’s, then she started to swing their arms back and forth and it was Emily who broke the silence, “you remember the first time we met?”

“How could I forget? You saved my life from that _terrible goat_ ,” JJ feigned dramatics just to add to the moment, which earned her a chuckle and shaking head from her counterpart.

“Drama queen. Anyways, I remember having to beg to let Adelaide give you my parents number. It isn’t every day that the Ambassadors’ personal number is given out.”

“I feel honored. But she probably broke some code in doing that.”

“Oh, definitely. After you left I was so excited to have finally made a friend, even if I was going to be moving soon. You’ve proved yourself to be a pretty consistent friend at that too, even when I did drop off the face of the earth for months at a time.”

JJ playfully bumped her shoulder into Emily, “You can’t get rid of me that easily, Prentiss.” Under the streetlights she could see the faint smile tugging at Emily’s lips, “someone’s all smiles this evening,” she reached up and poked Emily’s cheek. “First, it’s not evening, and second, what if I am? It’s probably because I’m spending the evening with my favorite person.” Emily cast a glance to the blonde and JJ felt her breath catch in her throat. For the first time in arguably JJ’s whole life, she was speechless. “Cat got your tongue, Jennifer?” JJ scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue, “you wish.” Emily rolled her eyes and shook her head, “you’re something else Jennifer Jareau.”

The rest of their walk to Emily’s car was uneventful, and even the drive over to the blonde’s apartment way quiet. When they finally approached, Emily parked the car and JJ shot her a questioning look. “I’ll walk you up to your door,” JJ opened her mouth in protest but she was quickly cut off, “let me be a gentleman for once, I owe it to you.” Before JJ could get the words out, the brunette was already getting out of the car and walking to the passenger side door. Once the door was open she took Emily’s hand and walked up to her door, “I had fun tonight,” she murmured while digging through her purse to get her keys.

“Me too. Do this again soon?”

“Of course,” JJ put her keys into the door and unlocked it. She turned briefly to give Emily a hug and when they pulled away she placed a soft kiss to the other woman’s cheek, “Goodnight Emily Prentiss, drive safe and text me when you get home safely.” 

Emily looked at the blonde, her features had softened and she just seemed to be at peace, “goodnight Jayje.”

The blonde stood outside her door for a moment, watching as the brunette walked away. Once she heard the sound of the engine turning over the blonde waved goodbye and opened up her front door. Quickly closing it behind her she leaned against the door, a smile toying at her lips and she let out a quiet sigh of contentment. For JJ, tonight had been absolutely perfect and she wouldn’t have wished it any other way.


	4. Chapter 4

After that night, Emily would find cups of coffee left on her desk. Usually with a post-it note attached and words of encouragement written in JJ’s flowery handwriting. Occasionally the blonde would add doodles to the note, most times it was a flower or a smiley face, but sometimes she would draw a goat. Emily kept those notes. All the ones with a goat drawn on them where tucked away neatly in her desk, attached together with a paperclip. Somehow a damn goat is what kept the two of them connected to their youth, and the brunette cherished it.

In turn, Emily would leave pastries from the local bakery in the blonde’s office whenever she stepped out. The older woman wasn’t one for leaving behind notes like JJ did, instead she’d simply scrawl _’enjoy’_ on the packaging. She’d always watch from her desk when the blonde would re-enter her office and pick up the pastry, a small smile playing on her lips. And before JJ could look up in the direction of Emily’s desk and catch her gaze, the brunette would always turn and busy herself in a file. 

Today was one of those days where Emily wasn’t in the office. She had decided to take the Friday off and instead wanted to work on making her apartment feel like home. In the months since she had moved to the D.C. area she was living out of boxes for the most part. With her busy schedule and habit of making excuses as to why she couldn’t get something done immediately, things just never got unpacked. 

The sun had finally set outside and the streetlights casted a soft glow in her apartment as the light filtered through her curtains. It took her longer than she wanted to admit to get everything situated just right in her apartment. She’d chalk it up to her trying to perfect the _feng shui_ of the place. The reality was, it took Emily Prentiss hours to get everything settled because she knew that the moment everything was out of boxes she would be establishing a permanence in D.C., and that revelation terrified her. 

The brunette dropped back onto her couch and reached for her television remote, idly flicking on the box and watching it come to life. When she clicked through the channels nothing in particular caught her eye, so she settled on letting the news become background noise as she moved into her kitchen to microwave something for her dinner. Because, fact, Emily Prentiss was not much of a cook.

Her evening was uneventful and quiet, exactly how she wished it to be. The weatherman droned on about the snow that the area was supposed to be getting, and the news anchors did their typical banter back and forth as they delivered the news that was relative to the local area. Snow was the last thing the brunette wanted to deal with, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. The anchors signed off, rounding off the hour, and Emily figured it would be time for her to call it a night. The day was catching up to her rather quickly, and she could feel her muscles ache slightly from unpacking boxes and hanging things up. The brunette changed into grey sweatpants and an old Yale sweatshirt before crawling under her covers and letting sleep take over.

The ringing of her phone startled her awake and she reached over to grab the device, answering it before looking at the caller ID, “Prentiss,” she muttered.  
“We’re you asleep?” Emily opened one eye as she pulled the phone away from her ear, it was JJ. Not only that, but it was also two o’clock in the morning. She grunted as JJ continued, “it’s _snowing._ ” 

“Did you seriously wake me up to tell me it’s snowing?”

“Yes and no. I’m outside your apartment building, bundle up and come out.”

Emily sat up straight, “how the fuck—,” she got cut off by the blonde who chastised her for her language. The brunette rolled her eyes, “fine. How did you figure out where I lived?”

“Garcia did some digging,” the blonde said sheepishly, “but can you _please_ come outside.” Emily knew she couldn’t say no, so she told JJ she’d be down in five, that she just needed to put shoes on. She mentally thanked herself for unpacking today because it made things much easier when she needed to find a pair of shoes that would suffice for the snow. 

She left her apartment carrying on her phone and her keys and hurried outside. When she opened the door, she was immediately greeted by a cold blast of air and flurries that fell from the sky. A car door slammed shut in the distance and she looked over to see the young woman walking towards her with her hands behind her back. Emily shoved her hands deeper into the pockets of her sweatpants and stepped out onto the side walk, waiting for the blonde to get closer.

Once JJ was standing in front of her, she pulled her hands out from behind her back and produced two cups with lids, “I made hot chocolate,” she whispered before shoving a cup towards the brunette. Emily took a hand out of her pocket and gratefully took the cup, relishing in the warmth it provided her hand. The pair stood in comfortable silence as they drank the warm liquid, enjoying each other’s presence alone for the first time in weeks. 

Emily turned to look back towards the blonde who had disappeared from her peripheral just to be greeted with a snowball to her side, “oh that’s just cold, Jareau.” The blonde giggled and bent down to scoop up more snow, packing it tightly into a ball. Emily quickly tossed the cup in the trash and dodged the snow that came flying in her direction, “you have to be quicker than that,” she teased.

She probably spoke too soon because she was hit with more powder before she ever had a chance to even make a snowball of her own. Emily stood upright and put her hands on her hips just in time for the blonde to hit her square on her chest, “Em, are you going to throw one back or is this just target practice for me?”

“Well maybe if you gave me the _chance,_ ” she laughed and moved forward, wrapping her arms around the blonde’s waist and pulling her down to the ground with her. They had a few inches of snow to cushion their fall, hair splayed out around them as the two women dissolved into a fit of giggles. 

“Do you remember when we were kids and our mothers bundled us up to go outside and play in the first snow?” JJ turned her head towards Emily.

Emily didn’t look at JJ quiet yet, instead she kept her eyes fixed on the sky above and watched as the flurries still fell down, “I do. I remember my mother complaining about your mom calling us in the middle of the night the entire drive over.” The blonde laughed at that, “what can I say, we Jareau’s are not as sophisticated as the Prentiss’. No matter what hour it is, we’ll always go out and play in the first snow fall.”

The brunette gestured her hand to the space around them, “and I see that is still true to this day.” There was a pause before Emily spoke again, “I just realized that was one of the rare times my mother took me somewhere and not Adelaide.” JJ rolled onto her side and brought her arm up so she could rest her head on it, Emily turning her head to the side and watching as snowflakes delicately placed themselves upon the blonde, “what all were you doing while I was away at Interpol?”

JJ’s face lit up at this, “I went to school here in D.C. and heard a lecture given by someone who worked in the FBI. That’s really what sparked my interest in joining the bureau, if I’m being honest.” Saying Jennifer Jareau looked ethereal right now would be an understatement. Emily watched her intently as she spoke animatedly about the last couple of years. Guilt tugging at her slightly as she realized she didn’t even hear a word that the blonde had spoken, but she was so engrossed in simply admiring the beauty that laid before her.

The cold was starting to turn the tip of her nose red and her electric blue eyes shone brightly, full of amusement and wonder. Her golden way was draped across her shoulders, neck, and even on the ground. Her lips parted ever so slightly as she breathed, her breath showing in the cool air. She seemed at ease, and mentally the brunette took a picture of this moment so she could hold on to it for forever. Because it was in this exact moment that the realization hit her, she was in love with her best friend. 

If she were being honest, it was inevitable. From the moment they met as children there was some outside force that just ended up keeping them together. Emily Prentiss was not one to believe much in fate, but this? This was the exception. 

That realization caused a soft smile to form on her lips, and JJ immediately pointed it out, pausing from telling her story, “what’s on your mind, Prentiss?” Emily shifted so she could prop herself up on her elbow, “I’m thinking about how damn cold it is outside.” The statement made JJ smirk, and for a moment Emily could have sworn that the blonde’s gaze dropped to her lips for a brief second. Her mind was willing her to lean in and close the gap, but her body seemed unable. And just when she got the courage to shift she was met with a and more cold snow hitting the side of her head.

Emily flopped onto her back and the blonde broke out into a fit of laughter, “I’m sorry, Em, I just had to. The moment was too perfect.” She hadn’t even seen the fact that the blonde had gathered snow up again to throw it at Emily. The brunette snorted and rolled her eyes, pushing herself up off the ground and checking her watch to see that they had been outside for only thirty minutes, “I’m absolutely freezing.”

“I can go home,” the blonde scrambled up to her feet, taking her hands and brushing the snow off of her pants as she did so. Emily frowned at that statement and shook her head, “you can just stay here. It’s late and the snow will be picking up here soon, I wouldn’t want you driving in that.” 

“I don’t want to put you out,” JJ pursed her lips together.

Emily stuck her hand out for the younger woman to take, “you’re not. I promise. Besides, I just put together my apartment so now is the perfect time for guests.”

“At almost three in the morning?” Jennifer took Emily’s hand.

“Let me have this moment, Jareau,” she brought the blonde in closer to her to help warm her up, and the pair began to walk back towards Emily’s apartment.


End file.
